Visiting Vancouver

April 28, 2008 British Columbia, Neighbourhood tour No Comments

Well, I asked for a tour of Vancouver and today I certainly got what I asked for. My tour guide was Trevor, our BC neighbourknowledge rep. We did a walking tour of a number of neighbourhoods and by the end of the day I had a completely different perspective on the city of Vancouver.

Our morning started on Granville Street and then to Granville Island (V6H). Granville Street had some interesting shops, but most importantly there was a Tim Horton’s kiosk in the local Esso station so I was able to get my morning fix. It was raining so we hurried along Granville Street and headed down to Granville Island.

This area of artisan shops and market is accessed by going under the Granville Street Bridge. Many of the buildings are converted or currently used industrial building. The whole area has a great feel - it almost makes you want to be a craftperson or artist even if you’re not (I’m not!).

The shops are unique and generally minded by the artist/owner themselves. The market was great with so many unique vendors - it reminded me a lot of the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto, with the mix of vendors selling local, organic and fresh goods. We were there on a Monday morning and it was quite busy so I can’t image how busy it is on weekends. The Kid’s Market was also a fun place to visit. What a great place to shop for a child’s gift.

From Granville we moved along to Kitsilano (V6J). Kitsilano had a great mix of shops and restaurants. It felt more hip then the east side neighbourhood (V5T & V5V) that we visited yesterday which isn’t necessarily good or bad - just different. We stopped for a quick bite at the take-out counter at Caper’s Markets, which is a local upscale grocery chain.

After our 5-minute lunch on the go we walked over to East Kitsilano (V6J) for a tour of Robert Held Glass Studio. We entered in through the gallery that had a great selection of pieces on display. Then we were taken into the shop where the pieces are made. This is a really big operation - and hot with their large number of open ovens. Watching the process that these artisans go through to produce the end product makes you appreciate pieces even more.

In the afternoon we visited Yaletown (V6Z). Trevor had a Meet a Local interview with David Lowe owner of Cito Espresso so we headed directly there. I really enjoyed tagging along for the interview. I loved David’s passion for his business - and I had the best latte ever.

With more interviews in the area tomorrow we kept our visit here brief today. However, I must say I was absolutely surprised and fascinated not only by the density in this part of Vancouver but in how well executed it is. I was just amazed at how an area that is so saturated in condo’s can feel neighbourly but it does. The condo designs are unique, blend well with the street and many of greenscape and rooftop gardens integrated. Many cities could look to Vancouver as a model for how to make density attractive.

Our last stop of the day was Davie Village (V6E), Vancouver’s gay neighbourhood. There were a number of bars, clubs and restaurants. The area had a reto feel to me, with the older architecture and there was a lot of people out on the street so the area had great character.

My day ended with a whole new appreciation for the city of Vancouver. I don’t know what in particular surprised me but I just had an overall sense of my expectations being surpassed. I look forward to the second day of our city tour tomorrow.

Arriving in British Columbia

April 27, 2008 British Columbia, Neighbourhood tour No Comments

Last night I arrived in Vancouver British Columbia. The purpose of the trip was to touch base with our local BC writer for a few days then head down to the Okanagan for the BC BIA (Business Improvement Agency) Conference.

Wanting to take full advantage of the trip I am also planning to tour around get familiar with as many Vancouver neighbourhoods as I can while I’m here.

I first visited the town of Ladner (V4K) and took some photos of local shops. My first stop was at London Drugs to get some camera supplies that were left back home. London Drugs is something we don’t have in Ontario - kind of like a cross between a Shoppers Drug Mart and a Mini-Department store. It’s a great spot for one stop shopping.

At lunchtime I headed off for a tour of the fishing village of Steveston (V7E). I have been here a few times and every time it’s pouring rain and this was no exception. When I’ve been here before fishermen have been docked at Fisherman’s Wharf and selling their catch of prawns, salmon and halibut right off the boat. There were no fishing boats out today but it’s still a neat little spot to visit and it was surprisingly busy for a cold, rainy day with no fishermen selling their goods.

I was tempted to have lunch at the local favourite Pajos but I was not brave enough to endure the cold and the rain so we headed indoors for our fish & chips. We ate at Shady Island which is one of a few seafood restaurants to choose from along the water.

In the afternoon we headed into Vancouver. We walked along Main Street on the East side of Vancouver V5T and V5V. What a great area for a young person to live. There are the standard coffee shops, and the staple food markets, and liquor stores but also some interesting shops as well like Urban Source for the creative craftsperson and The Granville Island Toy Company for the kid in everyone.

I really liked the mix and the feel of this neighbourhood. And the rain subsided to a mist for most of our journey so were able to enjoy the stroll.

Tomorrow we’re back to Vancouver for some more tours. I look forward to that, because as many times as I’ve been to Vancouver I’ve never really toured it on foot.

Launch Week

April 15, 2008 Site news No Comments

We launched neighbourknowledge.com last week from the National Home Show. We’ve been working on iterations of the site for 2 years so it was great to make it public.

While we continue to evolve the site, we can now look forward to getting feedback from the people who will use it. We had a chance to talk to real estate agents, small business owners, not-for profits, community groups and residences all who saw how they could leverage neighbourknowledge.com.

Given that we want to be “the” neighbourhood website for Canada, it was great for us to hear from that range of people, from London to Kingston and many towns, city’s and ‘burb’s in between. We had some great media coverage as well on tv, radio and newspapers.

So we’re out there.

Now we want to continue to talk to as many people as we can to not only help them get their content on our site but to help them understand how they can leverage the site to achieve their goals in the neighbourhood. The richer the content, the closer we are to our goal of being the one-stop meeting place for every neighbourhood in Canada.

Watch this space as we report not only on site direction, but our own experiences as we meet with people in neighbourhoods all over Canada.